Keith Strudler

Sports

3:52 pm

Wed February 11, 2015

Who says the art of writing letters is dead? Not New York Knicks owner James Dolan. This past week, he showed his skill set by publishing a caustic, scathing note to longtime Knicks fan Irving Bierman. Dolan was responding to Bierman’s initial message to the team owner, where Bierman implored Dolan to sell the team because he had essentially destroyed the franchise after taking it from his father. Bierman was fairly specific in his critiques, including Dolan’s handling of former coach and GM Isiah Thomas and his inability to hire Steve Kerr.

Commentary & Opinion

3:50 pm

Wed February 4, 2015

Today is the biggest day of the year in college football. That may seem odd, since the national championship game was nearly a month ago, and we haven’t even approached spring practice, much less the regular season.

Sports

3:52 pm

Wed January 28, 2015

Money is a strong – no a fantastic motivator. Don’t want to slow down on the highway? You do because of the threat of a $200 speeding ticket. Working weekends? You might for time and a half. Outside of maybe food and certain unmentionables, money gets the job done better than any other positive or negative reinforcement.

Sports

3:52 pm

Wed January 21, 2015

One the most powerful words in sports, in life really, is regret. The sporting past is a road map of wins and, more importantly, the ones you should have won. Just ask a fisherman. It’s always the one that got away. For the Green Bay Packers, one got away on Sunday. With less than four minutes in the fourth quarter of last weekend’s NFC Championship Game and holding a commanding 19-7 lead that felt much greater, and with the ball, it seemed the only thing that could keep the Packers from a trip to the Super Bowl was divine intervention or willful intent. In fact, in that very penultimate moment, the Packers had a 97% chance of winning, according to the wonky sports statisticians that calculate this stuff.

Sports

3:52 pm

Wed January 14, 2015

The easiest way to ensure victory upon exit is simply to declare it so. Especially when success is a question of perception, it never hurts to proactively write history. It’s kind of the opposite of cut and run. It’s cut and win.

Sports

3:52 pm

Wed January 7, 2015

I’m not a Hall of Fame guy. This isn’t just for baseball, but really for any sport. I’ve been to Canton, Ohio, and drove right past the Football Hall of Fame. I’ve been through Springfield and never thought about basketball. I don’t even know where hockey’s building is, much less the long list of secondary and college sports that maintain their own cathedrals.

Sports

3:52 pm

Wed December 31, 2014

As is the case every year, New Year’s Eve is a moment to look back and reflect on the year that was. That’s always true in sports, which operate on yearly cycles, even if those periodic markers don’t align with January 1. But sports fans are remarkably adept at taking each year as a singular unit to be consumed and analyzed unto itself.

Commentary & Opinion

3:45 pm

Wed December 24, 2014

More than a few middle aged adults would like nothing more than to go back to college. Jim Harbaugh, current head football coach of the San Francisco 49ers, knows all about that. He is currently being courted by his alma matter the University of Michigan to come on home. While no official offer is extended, at least none that's hit the press, the Wolverines reportedly would offer $48 million over six years to resurrect a program with more problems than answers. While their rival Ohio State enters the inaugural college football playoff this winter, Michigan is staring up at most of the rest of the Big 10. In Harbaugh, they seek a savior at a place that demands salvation.

Sports

3:52 pm

Wed December 17, 2014

Los Angeles has a lot. It's got movie stars and great weather and Disney and beaches and enough night clubs to entertain the Kardashians. But what they don't have is an NFL franchise. They used to. In fact, they had two, assuming we count the LA metro area, which includes Anneheim, the former home of the then Los Angeles and now St. Louis Rams. At some concurrent moments, the Raiders called the Los Angeles Coloseum home, before they returned to Oakland. But since 1995, the city of angels has been home to exactly one less NFL team than Jacksonville, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Buffalo, respectively, cities that collectively don't approach LA's populace.

Commentary & Opinion

3:51 pm

Wed December 17, 2014

Los Angeles has a lot. It's got movie stars and great weather and Disney and beaches and enough night clubs to entertain the Kardashians. But what they don't have is an NFL franchise. They used to. In fact, they had two, assuming we count the LA metro area, which includes Anneheim, the former home of the then Los Angeles and now St. Louis Rams. At some concurrent moments, the Raiders called the Los Angeles Coloseum home, before they returned to Oakland. But since 1995, the city of angels has been home to exactly one less NFL team than Jacksonville, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Buffalo, respectively, cities that collectively don't approach LA's populace.